In microfiche duplicating apparatus, there may be a set of microfiche numbered 1 through 10, by way of example, on a master microfiche roll. A customer may wish to have five complete sets of the microfiche numbered 1 through 10. In such instance, the duplicating apparatus can be programmed to deliver single copies of fiche 1 through 10 in order, so that they will be collated, such set of 1 through 10 being repeated five times in a row. However, since the delivered microfiche copies are received in a hopper, all of the five sets of the microfiche 1 through 10 would normally be stacked on top of each other and it is then necessary for an operator after removing the entire stack from the hopper to separate out the respective sets of fiche 1 through 10. Such is a time consuming operation.
In other instances, a person may wish to have a first set of microfiche 1 through 10 and a second set of microfiche 11 through 13. Assuming that the customer wishes to have five copies of each of the first and second sets, there again would be encountered the problem of separating out the respective sets after the duplication had been completed even though the stack would be in an order that would help somewhat in separating out the fiche. For example, the first set of fiche 1 through 10 is printed and stacked and the process repeated five times. Thereafter, the second set of fiche 11 through 13 is printed and stacked and this latter process repeated five times, the five second sets being received on top of the five first sets. In sorting out the complete stack, the operator would know to first remove from the top the sets of fiche 11 through 13 and separate the same into separate piles. Thereafter, the five sets of fiche 1 through 10 are removed and separated into piles.
In other instances, a person may want 100 copies of a single microfiche such as fiche No. 1 and 75 copies of a second microfiche such as fiche No. 2 and perhaps 200 copies of a third microfiche such as fiche No. 3, and so forth. Again, the duplicating machine can be programmed to provide the desired number of copies of each fiche, but as in the case of the foregoing examples, all of the fiche come out in a single vertical stack in the hopper and must then be manually separated into the sets.